Background:
- Climate change in Ladakh has shrunk glaciers and made rainfall and temperature unpredictable. Water is required to irrigate fields of barley, apples and other crops during spring but glaciers do not melt till summer.
- To spare farmers a dry-spell and a barren yield, Engineer Sonam Wangchuk (recipient of Ramon Magsaysay 2018) has invented Ice Stupas (artificial glacier).
Features:
- It is a way to bring irrigation to people in the form of glacier grafting technique that creates artificial glacier, used for sharing winter water (which otherwise goes waste) in the form of conical shaped Ice Stupa.
- Saving Winter water, that flows waste, in a cone shaped stupa which is not melted easily is the main idea behind it. This stupa melts slowly and serves the purpose of drinking and irrigation.
- In each ice Stupa atleast 30-50 lakh ltrs of water is saved. This is apart from the naturally saved water in the slopes of mountains.
- Besides solving water problem, Ice Stupas are becoming an attraction for tourists.
Present status of Ice Stupas:
- This winter, about 12 villages across Ladakh have built Ice Stupas on experimental basis.
- From next year, Ice Stupa team will build more glaciers in Leh in collaboration with LAHDC and Leh Municipal Committee as an endeavour to solve shortage of water.
